Risen (Haunted Series Book 22)

put up with it all?” Mason asked.
“Because someone had to be in charge.  In the beginning of the investigation, it was Ted.  He asked me to come and help him find missing children.”
“Weren’t you too together then?”
“In my mind, yes,” Ted said.  “It took a while for Mia to get aboard the Ted train.”
“In matters of the heart, I’m a little slow,” Mia admitted.
Later, the three decided to walk back.  It was a steady climb, but all of them had eaten too much.  There was a cool breeze coming off the ocean.  Ted took off his jacket and wrapped it around Mia’s shoulders.  She stopped and looked up.  “The stars are so close.  It’s as if I can touch them.”
“Pick one out, and I’ll give it to you,” Ted said.
Mason caught the fleeting look of surprise on Mia’s face.  Mason had heard that Ted wasn’t the romantic type from Murphy.
“I want that one,” Mia said, pointing.
Ted leaned over, put his chin on Mia’s shoulder, and followed her hand upward with his eyes and said, “Procyon.  The little dog star.  Mason, you may be more familiar with its big brother Sirius.”  Ted moved Mia’s finger.  “That’s Sirius.  He’s always near his little brother.”
“Not unlike my brother,” Mason said.  “All my life he was hovering.”
“I’d give my right arm to have a big brother, Mason,” Mia said.
“You have Murphy, so don’t be greedy.”
“And before you open your mouth, Martin, you have sisters.  Murphy’s told me all about it.”
“He’s got Murphy on his mind,” Mia said sympathetically.  “Dear Mason, we will find him.  I promise we will do our best. He’s a big ghost.  If he doesn’t find his way back across, I will find him and haul his ass back myself.”
“But what if he doesn’t want to come back?” Mason asked.
“Then I’ll let him stay.  He’s under no contract to PEEPs.”
Mason glared at Mia.  He wanted to say more but realized Mia wouldn’t feel free to respond honestly with Ted there.
Mia turned to Mason and said, “He’s in all of our hearts.  I owe him so much.  He saved all of you on the boat.  That’s the kind of sacrifice he does without thinking.  But I also know he makes the best of every opportunity.  If he’s on a tall ship right now, he’s imagining how big the tree was that the main mast was cut from.  He may even be looking at this sky.”
“Or puking his guts up because he gets seasick,” Ted said.
Mia tried not to smile.  Her face screwed up funnily.  “There is that…”
“He and his da suffer terribly,” Mason had to admit.  “Kevin spent the whole trip over from St. Kitts with his head on Sabine’s lap.”
“Mason, how much was that seasickness and how much was it the Callen gene?” Mia asked.
Mason thought about it a moment.  “That sonofabitch.”
“I know it seems like I’m a callous shrew,” Mia started, “but I’ve been around these entities a wee bit longer than you.  Remember, they were men once.  Just because they die, they don’t suddenly become upright citizens or demonic demons.  They are what they were.  Stephen Murphy was a man who never had a life of his own.  His mother ruled him, and his wife, who was not his choice, rejected him and participated in his murder.  I met him at a time when he was more interested in making mischief for any tenant of his farm who didn’t respect it or run it the way he did.  He really didn’t talk much, but I could see him, and I guess he was fine with that.  But Stephen was always a smart man and continued to be a smart ghost.  Smart ghosts adapt and learn.  Now he’s as astute and, probably, less socially awkward than I am.  He’s also taken on the power of Mother Nature and all that energy from the C4 blast.  He will find a way to survive.  It’s what he does.”
~
Sabine sipped on her wine, listening to Cid and Nicholai discuss their mutual love of reading.
“I love to discover a book, an overlooked but prolific author,” Cid said.  “This way, it’s like the books were written just for me.”
“I like to go to book signings,” Nicholai admitted.  “I watch the author read a bit of his or her book and imagine what it was like to sit and write them.”
“I like them to be anonymous to me,” Cid confided.
“I like personal journals,” Sabine said.
The two men looked her way.
“I like to see how real people react to mundane things, like housework, diapers, and retrieving lost items from the toilet.”
Cid laughed.  “Those girls keep you hopping.”
“My plumber warned me that he was going to retire soon.  Maybe I should move out of a high-rise where the girls frequently mess up the building’s waste removal systems with their stunts.”
“Why do you stay in the city?” Nicholai asked.
“Because there is so much at my fingertips.  Out here, you have to drive almost everywhere.  I like being able to walk to the store and get fresh veggies.”
“You could try farming,” Cid suggested.  “Just a little organic plot to start with.  The girls could help.”
“I’m afraid they would pull the crop and save the weeds,” Sabine said.
This caused Nicholai to laugh.  “Cid, give up.  She’s a city girl, a townie at best.”
“Where do you live?” Sabine asked Nicholai.
“I was born across the sea in Italy.  I lived most of my life there.  Victor asked me to come out of retirement and train Mia.  I like it here.  I have found a place north of here along Lake Michigan.  I live in a town that has many restaurants.  I like eating out.  Although, master chef, I love your cooking too.”
“So, you don’t have a wife?” Sabine asked.
“I